


neighbourly

by sugarby



Category: Hunter X Hunter
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Developing Relationship, Duel Monsters, Friendship/Love, Halloween, Killugon - Freeform, M/M, Neighbors AU, implied chrollo x pika, leopika - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-21
Updated: 2017-09-21
Packaged: 2019-01-03 19:00:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,321
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12152838
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sugarby/pseuds/sugarby
Summary: There are obligations and expectations of people who live next door to each other, though they likely aren't inviting oneself in, paying random children to egg the other’s house, and falling in love.





	neighbourly

**Author's Note:**

> *I usually don't rely on [prompts](http://thestateofardadreaming.tumblr.com/post/140289040823/some-shitty-neighbour-aus%22) but I'm not in the mood to focus on my lengthier stories and this is the shortest HxH idea I've got so far. Some prompts have been replaced/added in place of others. I don’t actually talk to my neighbors so I guess I’m, in a way, writing this vicariously or something. Sitcoms fill this gap in my life pretty well, too _(*whispers* Fuller House)_
> 
> *I sadly don't have a proper soundtrack for this prepared BUT for leopika in general: _Why_ by Sabrina Carpenter, _Be Real_ by Phoebe Ryan.

'Neighbors' is such a weird concept.

It's like being friends but without sending popular, internet jokes or social updates to each other. It's like being strangers but without the gap for where unspoken names should be. Plus you know where each other lives; step out the front door and walk a couple paces down the pathway, then turn to either your left or right and, if you're lucky, someone will wave at you.

There are some neighbors who prefer to live by themselves, so they keep to themselves. They don't smile, wave or even exchange a brief  _'hey, what's up?'_  if they cross paths. Some neighbors follow, or are at least aware of, the unspoken rules and expectations of being neighborly, so they do things like comment on the nice weather and ask for your opinion in return. They knock on your door with a gift-basket of freshly baked goods to welcome you to the neighborhood. They seem to be nowhere in sight until you think you're alone and turn your head. 

Being neighbors can actually be a really pleasant experience if the people involved are fond of each other. Or if they can just accommodate the intolerables that make it unpleasant. Common problems include but are not limited to singing in their early-morning showers, blasting music at weird hours of the day, and echoed wailing in to the melancholic night after a break-up.

'Neighbors' is sort of like the level between  _acquaintance_  and  _friend_. There are opportunities for escalation, to reach a comfortable  _zone_  where nicknames and invading each other's homes become acceptable, but there are no unwritten rules or expectations of neighbors who become even closer than that.

 

_*  ~  *  ~  *  ~  *_

 

 

**1.2 - Mail x And x Packages**

Kurapika's preference to keep out of the business of others, and simultaneously keep them clean out of his, works well until packages for his neighbor are left in his care. In this case, he's involuntarily involved with them by possession of their belonging.

"Please try to be at home more often so I can avoid having to accept your packages."

"Be at home more often  _because you miss me_. Got it. Hello, by the way."

Kurapika usually doesn't mind. He can leave his neighbor's package by the front door and go back to what he abandoned—reading, cleaning, etc. But usually, the packages forced in to his care aren't inappropriate like this one. He doesn't tear it open and sift through what's inside to know, the sender's address with too many X's and a blatant innuendo does the job. If more packages like these should be expected to be temporarily placed in his care, and earn him skeptic looks from other residents in the area, then Kurapika thinks now is when he must draw a firm line and let no excuse cross over.

Leorio Palidknight, the neighbor, has a couple... _obscene_  interests—not that Kurapika makes a habit out of judging, he just does so, automatically. And Leorio—kind, caring, pretty harmless—has chosen the worst time to collect his obscene package: hours later, after Kurapika received a questionable look from the delivery person and well after he'd run out of calming Chamomile tea. "I'm not a fan of keeping your inappropriate orders, Leorio. I don't want to know what's inside but there are certain places and people you can contact for your _prepubescent urges_."

Leorio snorts, "That's hilarious coming from _you_. You're talking like you know this stuff first-hand. What, you saying _you're not_ the shut-in virgin people think you are?"

It's hardly a secret that Kurapika thoroughly enjoys time spent quietly indoors, comfortably on the couch with warm tea and a good book. And it's not a crime. Long before the advancements with technology and recently discovered pastimes, this was how a person entertained themselves. He can't believe the small minds of his neighbors some times, that they have such audacity to spread assumptions on him. "Just stop letting me be the one to take in your weird packages. It's an inconvenience."

"Because of our neighbors. Right?"  
  
"I hardly care what strangers think of me. And you can be certain I care  _even less_  of what  _you_  think of me."  
  
Leorio scoffs. _That_ hurt a little. "No, I can see that." Whenever he imagines they'll miraculously find ground to be civil on, Kurapika reminds him that it's basically a Pipe Dream. He disapprovingly looks down at his package leaning against the wall near the doorway; it's causing another argument between them and not the kind Leorio himself usually starts just because his neighbor's reactions are too amusing and too cute to pass up. "For the record, what's in the box is the study material I ordered. Not _sex toys_ or whatever it is you're thinking of."

"The  _less_  I know, Leorio."

 _It is_ what he thought might be inside. Leorio clicks his tongue, "Aren't you tired of being a prude?"

"That's unnecessary."

"But  _true_. And  _I'm_  an  _inconvenience_."

"You're twisting my words!"

"You _just said_ —"

"Your _box_!" Kurapika snaps, in the literally and emotional sense. It's tiring dealing with this man and his nerves will only stretch so far. " _Your box_ of what I still believe to be full of _sex toys,_ which I was forced to keep in my house, is a _fucking inconvenience_!"

Leorio takes a step back from that explosion. _Whoa_. He hardly, if ever, hears Kurapika curse; this man is always about propriety and etiquette, manners and carrying himself in a way that's completely contrast to the stereotypes stuck to people who do curse. It's like a revelation, meeting this side to Kurapika underneath his usual self. Leorio went the distance required to bring it out, and he's foolish enough to take pride in the accomplishment.

Fuck him if Kurapika, blunt with his sword-sharp tongue, isn't more attractive when he curses.

Their neighbor who lives across the street, sweet but nosy and old but dressed in pinks and frills like a child princess, watches their exchange and shamelessly smiles in amusement. Kurapika prefers not to know what Biscuit Krueger is thinking of but he has an inkling, nonetheless. He knows what they must look like—Leorio and him fighting in broad daylight on many occasions, and the implication behind the thought splashes rosy hues on his cheeks like a painting. He wants no more of this. Kurapika lifts and shoves the package in to his neighbor's chest desperately, and the unexpected action rouses rough coughs out of Leorio. He feels something is fractured now. Or broken. "Just take your crap and leave!"

Leorio, though winded, tries to respond, but the door slamming hard on him has the final say. It's a reflection of his neighbor, who hardly allows anyone to have the last word in an argument. Who doesn't start fights but can very well finish them.

Biscuit cups a hand around her mouth and calls from across the street, "Lover's tiff?"

Leorio sighs deeply and keeps hold of the package he briefly wants to set alight. He shouts back, "Yeah, something like that!"

It's always something like that with Kurapika.

 

. . .

 

**2 - Can x You x Do x Me x A x Favor?**

"Hey, how are you? Just need to borrow your printer for live two minutes. That okay? Great. Thanks. In the living room?" Leorio spares little to no time in a proper greeting before he invites himself in to his neighbor's home, patting his shoulder in gratitude and pushing through the half-open door.

"...Hello, Leorio. What can I do for you?" Kurapika says even though it's pointless now, just so his half of the proper greeting is out there. Shaking his head, he sighs and closes the front door, and ventures in to his living room after Leorio.

In there, his neighbor's already crowding round his printer that he's already taken the liberty of operating. He bounces on the toes of his dark, leather loafers and rubs his hands anxiously, "I just finished my paper for my class in the morning. Spent all night on it! Then my printer decided to be a prick and disconnect itself from the _very available_ wifi network."

"How unfortunate."

"Yeah, technology can be a bitch."

"Yes, it can be... _troublesome_." Kurapika personally wouldn't phrase it _that way_ but in all the time they've lived next door to each other, he's learned that what Leorio and he say to each other is more or less same difference. They're both realistic and emotional and truly blunt, but one of them speaks with a little more sophistication. Kurapika leans against the living room doorway, "What are you studying?"

"We've been neighbors for awhile and you don't know?!"

"I never thought to ask."

" _Ouch_. Well, Medical Studies. I'm gonna be a doctor."

"That's impressive."

Leorio double-takes. He blinks at Kurapika like he's trying to rid a haze in his vision. "...Thanks." He doesn't know how he earned a genuine compliment from Kurapika but he won't question it. He starts rubbing his hands again, excitedly this time, as he watches the first sheet of his twenty-page assignment start to slide out, printer lights and inked text working their way across its body. And the rest follow, clean and crisp white paper with lines of blank text about theoretical treatment for uncommon illnesses coming out. "God. If I never have to stare at bloodied organs for hours straight again, I'll be fucking happy."

"Yes, I can imagine such a grossly sight would—hang on. _You_ don't like the sight of _blood_?"

"Makes me nauseous."

"And you're studying to become a—"  
  
"A Doctor, yeah.  _I know_ it's ironic, Kurapika, don't go off on one now." Leorio begs. The printer makes a worrying sound, then it starts crushing up the current sheet stuck half-way in its mouth. "Oh, shit. No!" He pushes the stop button but it doesn't solve the issue; his paper—his assignment for deciding a portion of his grade is being chewed up!  
  
"It does that sometimes." Kurapika says, coming over. He pinches the end of the sheet and pulls.

" _What_ the heck are you doing?!" Leorio can't help the way his voice comes out in a screech at first. Fear of a foreseeable future where he fails to pass his class and his tendency to overreact will do that. "Oh my God! Pika, you're _pulling_!"

"You're _shouting_. And please abandon that nickname, I'm not a fan."

"Not too hard, Pika! Not too hard!"  
  
"Leorio, it's a sheet of paper, not your flaccid—"

"How the heck do you go from prude to vulgar in zero seconds?! Ugh, just shut up! If you rip it—!"

"You'll what?" Kurapika scoffs. He pulls the paper out and accidentally scratches his skin against its sharp line. Blood forms and starts trickling down a finger. "Damn. Here, take this and get out while I go fetch a—" He blinks at the taller man who suddenly looks greener than he should and less composed. "...Leorio?"

Leorio opens his mouth to speak but panics over inhaling the scent of blood. He takes one step and falls backward. Kurapika has never had a person faint in his living room before. He has also never had a minor injury while in the presence of a aspiring doctor—who happens to buckle under the sight and scent of blood, making this an ironic situation.

 

. . .

 

**3 - Getting x To x Know x You**

****“You’re sure?”

“Yes.”

“Really?”

“Absolutely.”

“...You realize you’re not obligated to do me any favours just because we happen to live next door to each other.”

“Never crossed my mind.”

“Feel free to turn me away any moment now...”

“Kurapika, seriously, you’re only increasing how late you are. Get in, it’s fine. It’ll be fun.”

“Fun…” Kurapika repeats the word slowly as they both get in to Leorio's royal-blue car, the word so far from all that’s involved with going to work. This had to be the day his alarm clock refuses to go off and he misses his bus to take him to the train. It’s a four hour journey to his workplace and he’s never once been late. Kurapika tries to swallow his concern over tarnishing his perfect punctual record.

“Want some music?”

“Sure.”

“Okay. I sing, by the way.”

“Noted."

“Loudly and off-key.”

Kurapika gradually brings both hands up to rub his face, “...Leorio,  _please_ —”

“I’m driving! I’m driving!” Leorio assures, pulling them out of his driveway with a classic-pop song starting up. He warms his throat in preparation to accompany the singer who sings about funny, ironic situations. When they eventually settle in to a line of traffic, he says, "You know, I just realized. I don't have a clue what you do."

"You mean my job?" Kurapika asks, an arm lazily draped on the rolled down window and keeping his head up. "Well, that depends which one you're inquiring about. Most of the time, I work as a tour guide in a museum, mainly in the department that handles famous body parts and organs. My other job is more or less flexible, depending on the employer to contact me if and when I'm needed to watch over his daughter during times when he is unable to."

"You're a baby sitter?!"

"No, his daughter is _sixteen_."

"But still! And hey, the first job? Showing people around a museum, telling them not to touch this and that, telling them there's nothing funny about that statue of a man not having a penis even though there totally is," he gets the expected look of a tired, unimpressed Kurapika, but that makes Leorio only wonder how many times he's encountered childish people saying such nonsense. "You're around body parts and I, training to be a doctor, will eventually be around them too."

"How long's that going to take, do you think?"

"About four years." Leorio side-glances him and smirks. "Why? You eager for a check up?"

"I'm fully capable of arranging an appointment with a real doctor, should I need one between now and whenever it is you do actually become one." Kurapika says, causing Leorio to make a strangled noise of protest at the flawless insult. "I'm just curious."

"You're  _curious_?  _You_? The guy who doesn't like to pry in to people's lives and visa versa?"

"Well...it's _you_. _I know_ you."

"Right. It's me, you know me...whatever that means." Leorio thinks it over and tries not to get his hopes up too high. He takes it for Kurapika being literal and says it's just a favour between neighbors, that there can't possibly be anything between the lines.

 

. . .

 

**4 - Happy x Birthday**

“It's my birthday!” Leorio bursts in to the living room of the house next door he’s all too comfortable inviting himself in to. (Clearly, Kurapika has less qualms than expected with letting his neighbor keep a spare key. For emergencies, he always thinks in defense).

“Congratulations.”

Leorio’s arms hanging in the arm dip a little as his bright expression dims quite a bit too.  “...That’s it?!”

“That's it.”

“I was expecting people to jump out a yell 'SURPRISE!'. You know. A party."

“Why, Leorio, it’s common knowledge that by lowering one’s expectations, there’s no chance of disappointment. Then again, I, personally, have never sought to impress you in the first place.”

“I just assumed you had a heart and were a considerate person. Sorry.”

“Well they say that people who assume—” Kurapika's snark is waved off with a hand and it leaves him fuming on the inside. Leorio starts pacing, thinking to himself. He could easily go to a club with a mate from college, him, Zephile, drinks and women. But that’s pretty much what he does all the time. It has to be special. Eventually, the pacing on polished, wooden floor grates on Kurapika’s nerves. “Can you do that in your own home?”

Leorio stops, thinking of something he hadn't spared a thought to until now. "Cake! Is there even a cake?!"

“Were you actually expecting I’d bake one?”

“Or just buy one, you know, if you don’t know one ingredient from another. My mistake for expecting a cake at least since you're the worst gift-giver ever."

"I haven't given you a gift."

Leorio throws his hands up in exasperation, "No, exactly!"

"Well how was I to know?"

The question is how hadn't he ran in to all the social updates and very obvious hints left by Leorio in his statuses? "It's my fault, I ought've known you didn't give much of a shit about me."

"All this over a lack of gift?"

"Kurapika, when you don't get someone even so much as a card, they're entitled to think you don't give a shit about them. And then they whine."

"That's ridiculous.  _You're_  ridiculous." Kurapika feels compelled now, by obvious truth in that Leorio is ridiculous, to literally write _‘I didn’t think to buy you a gift purely because it slipped my mind, I feel no hatred toward you’_ in a card. He could even add a smiley face.

"It's still my birthday, Kurapika."

“Fine. Tell me what it is you want and I’ll get it for you.”

Leorio thinks this over. It’s a once in a life-time opportunity he absolutely cannot waste or blow on something stupid. “I’ll get back to you on that.”

And because today is the day that his neighbour was born, Kurapika knows better than to refuse that. He isn't heartless. “Very well, let me know when you figure out what it is you want.”

. . .

  
  
**5 - Trick x Or x Treat?!**  
  
Leorio isn't really sure why he's surprised to find Kurapika doesn't open his door on Halloween to kids dressed up; he looks and sounds the part of someone like that. Someone cold and distant to the idea of horror, of fun and counting mountain piles of candy. Leorio loves days like this--loves this holiday, in fact. Would love it a whole lot more if he wasn't spending it sourly, watching children come and go with no more candy, with no word or appearance from Kurapika whatsoever at any time.

It boils Leorio's blood so much he finds himself waving a fist at the house next door, like a retro, moody grandfather. He decides to intervene when the next pair of kids show up: a white-haired boy whose lazily wrapped tape to hang from his dark shirt in zero effort to be mummified, and a dark-haired boy with much better spirit but less creativity, it seems, a translucent, white cloth with two holes cut out decadently draping over himself. Leorio gives himself a moment to further criticize their effort in his mind, then he whistles for their attention from Kurapika's front porch where the light shines over them.

They turn to him at the same time.

Leorio coaxes them over with a beckoning hand.

A little time passes as the children contemplate coming over before they actually do, the Ghost kid with less hesitation. They walk in sync and stop a little distance from Leorio, the reason being he is a _complete stranger beckoning children in the night_. The reality of his half-baked plan dawns on Leorio and he reassures himself that he isn't a predator of any kind or someone shady.

The white-haired boy's hand whips the back of the Ghost-kid's head.  
  
"Ow!" Ghost-kid yells and starts rubbing the assaulted area, "Killua?!"  
  
"It was mandatory." Killua says. "Gon, it's preferable that you don't casually go over to the strange man whistling at two, underage kids in the dead of night"  
  
Leorio says, "It's seven."  
  
"And we're  _fourteen_. You look..." Killua's eyes inspect his body from head to toe. "What, like, approaching forty?"  
  
Leorio chokes, "F-Forty?!"  
  
"No? My bad."  
  
"You— _forty_?!"  
  
Gon asks, "Why'd you call us over?"

"Better question," Killua interrupts. "Should I call the cops?"

Leorio's hands rest at his hips and he gives Killua a tired look, "Trust me, I did you kids a favor." He juts his chin out to Kurapika's house—lovely and peaceful on the outside, like the person who lives inside doesn't discriminate against Halloween. "The guy who lives there is a brat who won't answer the door and give candy to kids. He thinks it's pointless or whatever and that he's too mature to dress up. But who's he kidding?! He's not much younger than me!"

"I'll hold my judgement on that." Killua tells him. He feels Gon's elbow nudge in to his side. "Anyway, _and_?"  
  
"And it's freakin' annoying! Halloween is the time to have fun and eat shit-loads of candy! Kurapika’s just being a...a...a Grinch! A _Halloween Grinch_!” He thought long and hard about what to call his neighbor on this occasion but Killua and Gon exchange unsure looks. "So, I'm gonna pay you to egg his house."  
  
The mischievous activity places an excited spark like electricity in Killua's blue eyes.  
  
Gon pouts, clearly the moral compass between them, "Why'd I wanna do something so mean?"  
  
"Kid, you'll get _money_!"  
  
"What do I do with that?"  
  
"Uh, a lot! Whatever you want!" Leorio thinks of how money pretty much runs the world. Back in the day, he could buy bunches of candy for a few cents! Even by the incredulous look on the other kid, he can tell he knows what he can do with ten bucks. _‘Buy a lot of chocolate and other cool shit,’_ Killua actually thinks, but Leorio doesn’t know. Leorio guesses games, crushes and a device to play loud, rock music on or whatever genre kids listen to these days.

"Forty." Killua demands. "No,  _hundred_."  
  
"What?!"  
  
" _Each_."  
  
"That's bankruptcy!"

"It's a fucking bargain."

Hearing an actual child curse at him is one thing but being swindled by one takes the cake. Leorio is mighty vexed but a reccuring, common trait among children is that they're stubborn 'till the very end. Killua looks like he hustles like it's a second-hand trade to him; he isn't going to back down. "For the love of...fine! Deal!" Leorio barks and jams a hand deep down in to his pants' pocket for his wallet. The anger is real but he exaggerates opening his wallet, makes a show of counting out two hundred in cash like the starry-eyed children watching every move will have a change of heart. Leorio clicks his tongue and slaps their halves in their awaiting hands, "There you go, you damn hustlers. Can't believe Kids these days."

Killua grins wickedly, his lips and eyes mimicking a mischievous cat. Gon stares at the cash in awe, admiring the most amount of money a country boy like him has ever seen—has ever had, too, including all the money he's saved from birthdays and holidays. His cousin Mito, who is more like an Aunt or a mother, only gives him pocket change every week. Leorio clicks his tongue again and curses because if he'd only dealt with Gon then he'd have appreciated the value of ten pounds. 

With impatient and encouraging pushes against their backs, the boys are guided to the front door of the house next door with a handful of eggs in each hand.

Leorio squats behind one of the thriving bushes in the front garden that's in line with the front window. The curtains aren't closed yet; Kurapika likes to close them a couple minute before he retires for the night. Rubbing his hands excitedly, he's only half guilty that he'll disturb the peace and beauty of Kurapika engrossed in yet another novel on the couch.

*  *

In his kitchen, Kurapika sets down a plate of Oreos in front of two boys he's never seen before until tonight.

Killua and Gon look at the cookies, at Kurapika, then at the cookies again. Together, they take one each, and the silence in which they all were watching each other breaks.

Kurapika watches, arms folded, face serious. He wouldn't go so far as to call the police on vandalizing children. The more he looks at the dark haired boy, the more he thinks of Leorio. Though he's never seen children, in relation or otherwise, enter or leave his neighbor's. In fact, until Leorio elaborated his doctor dream to wanting to help children too, Kurapika had suspected he was a no-child kind of bachelor. He can't explain why but the correction pleased him.

“Weird.” Killua says.

Kurapika blinks, "My being kind to children is... _weird_?"

"We almost egged your fucking house."

"Almost." Kurapika heard their footsteps, their furious whispering, then he opened his front door to two boys with eggs in their raised hands.

"The guy next door paid us to. Said you suck fun out of things like a vacuum cleaner and called you the Halloween Grinch.”

Gon sets his glass down so quickly it heavily knocks against the table, milk swashing against the rim. “He did  _not_!" He scolds Killua with a disbelieving look but the trail of milk left above his lips makes him hard to take seriously. He frantically turns to Kurapika,  "He did say you were a Halloween Grinch but that's all!"

Killua sighs and mutters under his breath that Gon—sweet, honest, clueless Gon—just made things worse. “Leorio, is it? Yeah, he’s an idiot.”

“No argument here.” Kurapika says, tight-lipped. After Leorio's comment, that bastard can go to hell.

“But so are you.” Killua says without regard for the very plausible outcome of being killed in the kitchen. "From the sounds of it, you have some kind of fucking problem with this holiday."

"Giving candy to children is counterproductive. And I don't know what he told you but he became upset when I declined his suggestion to dress up as a nurse to go with his doctor costume, and he hasn't said a word to me since this morning."

Killua sighs in to a hand and cements his belief that the two of them are idiots. "He obviously..." _'Likes you'_ , he thinks but doesn't say because there's no way something so obvious is going right over their heads. But then Gon slurps the rest of his milk and Killua is reminded of him and that some people really can be that dense. "Look, he wanted to enjoy it with you."

"I suppose I could've at least accompanied him..." Kurapika says thoughtfully. He shrinks back a little when Killua pulls a black marker from his hoodie, loudly uncaps the top and leans over the table to draw three straight lines on both his cheeks, and a thick swirl on the tip of his nose. "What are...what is..."

"Your costume." Killua looks like a mischievous cat again and only reveals, "You'll see~"

"It's not too late to have fun!" Gon smiles excitedly. "Halloween's not over for another," He jams four fingers in Kurapika's face. "FOUR hours!" He squeals with joy, thinking of all the candy he'll get in that time. He turns his head to the open window, "Right?! And we can count all the candy we get after and, like, trade and stuff!"

Kurapika asks, "...Why are you talking to the window?"

"I'm not, I'm talking to Leorio in that bush over there!"

" _What_?!"

"Idiot." Killua sighs.

Leorio curses and, instead of keeping low to deny it all, shoots up. It's almost more funny than horrific how he's much taller than the tall, fully grown plants that have bloomed across the front garden.

Kurapika ignores the violation of privacy to excuse his neighbor from his wrath for one night. For the sake of Gon and Killua, and because he never had a legit reason to put Leorio off enjoying one of his favourite times of the year.“ We’re about to ask around the neighborhood for candy in exchange for a trick. Would you like to accompany us?”

“That was lame.” Killua says. “You’re meant to ask—”

Gon suddenly rises from his seat at the table. The legs of his chair screech as if panicking before it altogether topples over, "TRICK OR TREAT?!"

"...Yeah, like that.” Killua smiles, the energetic Gon a cute sight to behold. He feels good inside to know he has the cutest best friend in the entire world.

Kurapika's eyes meet Leorio's "Well?"

Leorio opens his mouth to reply but then closes it. He lifts a single finger, "Just one quick thing...are you a mouse or a cat?”

"I don't know, to be quite honest with you..." Kurapika has yet to see what's been drawn on his face. Either way, he would rather not disclose the answer because, while he is willing to do this, he still believes that grown, sensible adults do not parade in the night around their living area, bothering people for candy and tricks on a pointless holiday. 

“Mouse!” Gon and Killua betray him together.

Leorio steps out of the bush and comes toward the open window, grinning and leaning on its ledge with his elbow next to a potted plant, “Good, I’m allergic to Cats.”

 

 . . .

 

 **6**   **\- House-warming x Party**

“I’m throwing a housewarming party if you wanna come.”

“You moved in years ago.”

“It’s for a friend. He just started renting an apartment nearby. Great apartment, just too small for great parties.”

Kurapika rolls his eyes in his head. This lack of foresight is typical behavior of Leorio and his friends by extension. “I’ll see.”

“Okay. Cool. Gon and Killua already RSVP’d.”

“You sure it’s wise to have two impressionable teenagers at a college housewarming Party? Won’t there be alcohol, under dressed women, and zero parental Supervision?”

“Yeah,” Leorio grins. “They’re gonna love It!”

They don’t love it.

Kurapika's sat on the couch with another book when he gets the phone call that tells him so, "Hello?"

“Kurapika!” Gon’s voice can just be heard over loud music and cheering.

“Gon? How do you have my number?”

“ _Leorio_! Listen, can you please come get us?”

“Is everything alright?” Kurapika asks. “Are you or Killua in trouble?”

“You could say that.” Killua says. “We're in a cabinet upstairs. Whenever we try to leave, there's people making out! It's disgusting!"

Kurapika sighs, “I knew Leorio’s party was no place for the two of you.”

“Nah, it was actually alright to begin with, and I’ve been to crazier parties that had mosh pits."

"Kurapikaaa~!" Gon calls impatiently, "How long do we have to wait for you to come get us?!”

“An hour.”

“Okay, we’ll wait!”

Silence.

Killua's long, warranted sigh for his hopeless best friend is the exact response Kurapika kept to himself in his head, where all his other long sighs over frivolous events circle in haunt. “No, Gon, that was a—you know I live next door, why would it take me an hour?”

“You could have plans!”

Killua snorts, “Yeah, plans to sit around and read a book all day like a hermit.”

As true as it likely will remain to be, Kurapika doesn't appreciate a _child_ giving him sass. "Sorry, did you _not_ want me to come rescue you from the party of PDA-enthusiastic millennials?"

“Just saying, I’m seeing more action in one night than you probably do in a _week_.”

“So I should continue to spend my uneventful night reading this five-hundred page novel and leave you both to it? Well, if you insist.”

“No, no!" Gon shouts. There's the sound of fumbling, like someone— _Killua_ —being pushed aside from the conversation before they can ruin the rescue plan. "Oh my God, no! Please, Kurapika! I’ll tell Killua to shut up so please come save us! I'm sure I've seen way too much too quickly!"

Killua truly agrees. They're the same age but Killua is obviously maturer, with more experience in the ways of both millennial life and shady, adult business. That's the way his family have raised him: with little to no censorship and very high expectations. Gon asks a thousand questions for lack of experience and the poor boy had just been horribly introduced to sloppy kissing. It wasn't the kissing that bothers them but how messy and wet the people involved made it seem; nothing like the way Killua has imagined kissing Gon at all.

Kurapika thinks these kids must be rubbing off on because he usually wouldn’t be this kind to people insulting him and prying in to his personal affairs—or lack of. “Stay where you are, I’m on my way.”

. . .

 

**7 - Movie x Night**

Leorio cups his large hands behind his ears, elbows sticking out and nearly poking Kurapika beside him. “...Have I gone deaf?”

Kurapika says, “Can you ask that question if you have? You wouldn’t be able to hear an answer.”

“...No?! Yes?!”

“ _Leorio_.”

Leorio drops his dramatics. He and the boys are in Kurapika’s living room, the two eldest on the soft, blue couch and the youngest on the floor, everyone watching the TV showing a black and white and silent film. “When I said we should watch a horror film, I didn't necessarily mean something before color TV was invented.”

“Well you know where the door is,” Kurapika offers because like hell he’ll let Leorio ruin  _The Artist_  for him. 

Killua shoves a handful of popcorn in his mouth and munches loudly.

Gon presses a finger against his lips, “Sssh!” 

"You’re not actually watching this.”

“Yes I am!”

Killua bets Gon isn’t even following the story and just wants to see what happens next. Killua, personally, finds it boring for lack of killing and bloodshed (after being coerced in to watching such films for years by his older brother, he’s developed a taste for it). He picks up a piece of popcorn and brings it to his lips slowly. He side glances Gon once, then keeps his eyes on the TV while he throws a piece at his face.

Gon rubs his cheek, "Killua!"

"Can I help you?"

Gon pouts. "Kurapika, Killua threw popcorn at me!”

“I’m not your mother, Gon, deal with it yourself.” Kurapika says, not be cruel but literally so he can not get involved; he just wants to watch the film. It was recommended by a friend based on Kurapika's interests and he wants to watch it and let them know what he thought.

“And the parenting award goes to…” Leorio mumbles.

"I don't see _you_ lifting a finger to resolve their issue."

"I'm tired! I've been at college all day!"

"I was at work."

" _Babysitting_! You're a _babysitter_!"

"Take that back!"

“Here, take this!” Is Gon’s battle cry as he picks up the entire bowl and tips the popcorn out over Killua’s head. Some tumble out of his hair and land in his lap but most cover the carpeted rug that Kurapika spends a good portion of his days vacuuming. Killua wrestles Gon to the carpet, crushed popcorn pieces embedding in to the expensive fur rug.

Kurapika's eyes glash red. He could kill them!

Leorio whistles at the mess and pats Kurapika on the shoulder, “I bet you wish you were their mother now.”

 

. . .

 

**8 - Game x Night**

“I attack you directly and take 200 life points! What now, Killua?” Gon says, feeling pretty good with slapping a monster card down on to his field to instigate the first hit. He controls the game now.

Killua places his hand down over Gon’s, “Nope! You can’t attack on your first turn, idiot.”

“Ehhh? Really?!” Gon pouts.

Killua chuckles and finishes setting up his side of the field with monsters but mostly trap cards. While Gon is eager to go on the offence with monsters, Killua is technically skilled to a winning-streak point with using spells and traps in the background.

“Alright, let’s duel.” Killua announces and swears Gon has never looked so excited to start something. He only learned the rules of this game ten minutes ago and most of it probably went over his head and made smoke come out of his ears. Plus, it involves math: Gon’s least favorite subject. Oh well, Killua isn’t expecting a challenge. But even as time passed, the match is over before an hour. “Oi, Gon,” Killua’s wearing this wicked smile that means he knows everything. Resting a card near his lips, he asks, “Know what this card and I have in common?”

“Uh, you’re both STRONG?!” Gon furiously scratches his head in frustration and dreads to think of what will happen next, what Killua has up his sleeve.

Killua sets the card down face up, “We both have blue eyes.” And in another match with a different players, the statement alone would shake their world. Gon only has to see the high level and ATK power of the white dragon to cry in defeat, listening to his life points decrease to zero on the game’s calculator. Killua shamelessly crack his fingers behind his back, “I win.”

Kurapika walks in from the kitchen with a plate of snacks, “What are you playing?” He could hear them from the kitchen.

“Duel Monsters! Killua’s really, annoyingly good at it!” Gon says, hands erratically scratching his head and messing his hair. Same old Gon, never with sour feelings of loss and never without praise for an admirable opponent. This is one of the times he feels proud to have Killua as his best friend.

Killua’s shuffling the cards in his hand for another match, eyeing Kurapika, “Wanna play?”

“No, thank you. I prefer peaceful games that challenge the mind.” Kurapika sees the card designs, fantasy monsters and fairies, and immediately links it to children’s games.

“This is like that. It’s even got math.” Killua adds, chuckling later as Gon pretends to hurl at the mention.

"Don't remind me!" Gon shouts, simultaneously over the sound of the front door opening and closing.

Kurapika can easily handle any intruder with malicious intent but he still tells himself that he needs to start locking that thing. Leorio joins them all in the living room, casually setting his briefcase down on the couch. "Let yourself in, why don't you."

"Thanks. Just popping round to say hi. Ugh, if I never look at another textbook about rare diseases again—"

"You'll be no closer to becoming a Doctor." Kurapika reminds.

"Ugh. Stop being so right all the time. Let me complain a little."

"Leorio, I let you complain _a lot_."

"It's true." Killua says.

Leorio glares at him for his lack of help. These two are always here, it seems. Don't their parents give a damn they're hanging out with practical strangers? Then he points at him and Gon, "Hey, how come you two never come over to my place?!"

"Because it's disorganized." says Kurapika."

"Because you don't feed us." says Killua.

"Because you eventually come over here to Kurapika's," says Gon, which is the only response to get a reaction out of Leorio. A dramatic, strangling cat sound in the depths of his throat from the implication he easily plucks from it. He frequently visits Kurapika because they're friends; he doesn't really know the other neighbors that well either. He knows them better than Kurapika, naturally, but the difference is that they are nothing short of neighbors.

Leorio looks at Kurapika closely and thinks he's definitely more. Something in his gut and in the tightness within his heart tells him so. Kurapika owns a lot of prissy and annoying qualities but he's also reliable, resourceful, very attractive, capable of kicking ass if need be, and hell if those qualities don't often knock Leorio's socks off.

 

*  *

**9 - Night x To x Remember**

The overused phrase 'better late than never' stops being useful to Leorio; it's more or less dead to him. He'd figured out what he wanted—time with Kurapika. Just Kurapika—but the moment he tried to cross over to the next house, someone else swooped in and stole Kurapika away. Leorio's been sat on the curb in a place between their houses ever since, looking so dejected and hopeless that he looked the part of a homeless beggar and a passerby threw spare change at him.

Four hours he spends outside, and the afternoon turns to night.

And eventually, the car his neighbour left in rolls up a few feet away from him.  Leorio notices how expensive the car looks. How clean and slick it looks. How it's shiny coat dazzles with all this money and cool credit. The money, Leorio can make as soon as he becomes a doctor. The cool credit is just his subjection. He can't compete when he took this long to figure out how he feels about his neighbor just for some other guy to whisk him away. It's just like in the movies. 

Kurapika steps out and leans in to thank the driver and wave bye to him. Its engine revs and it slowly rolls up along the road. He doesn't turn around until it's out of sight; he clutches his bag, keys in the other hand, and heads for his house, but almost shrieks when he notices his neighbor through the thick darkness. "What the—Leorio?"

Leorio salutes with two fingers, "...Yo."

"Tell me you haven't been sitting there all this time." When he isn't answered, Kurapika sticks a hand to his hip and sighs. "Well?"

Leorio's eyes glance at him, then away, "...You just told me not to tell you that I've been sitting out here all this time."

Kurapika sighs in to his hand, and his head shakes left to right. There are times when Leorio knows exactly what Kurapika says and what he means, but chooses to be a comedian and pretend otherwise. And there are times like right now when he shouldn't but does take a statement literally. "What are you doing? Did you lock yourself out?"

Leorio _wishes_. "No. What's up with you? Bad date? Overrated food at an expensive place?"

Kurapika is the kind of person who irons out every crease and smooths every wrinkle in his clothes; who always hangs up his shirts and scrubs away dirt and grime of the day until his pretty fingers are prune wannabes. And he sits down on the chalkiness and the rubble of the curb right next to Leorio. "The  _food_  I liked. The company I didn’t care for much. Chrollo showed his true, arrogant colors in the end; he's much more reserved at the Museum.”

“Oh. Sucks.” 

“ _Yeah_."

“Just for the record, how far he’d get?”

“In... _courting_ me?”

Leorio shakes his head. God, did Kurapika really have to phrase it like that? Then he realizes of course he did because it's Kurapika. “No, no, on the date. Did he flex and make you feel all tingly? Did he use outdated but effective flirtation tactics? Did he...kiss you or at least try?"

"No. We just ate dinner."

“Poor guy.” Leorio has to sympathize with this Chrollo guy who left because he missed out what would’ve been an eventful time with Kurapika. With or without clothes, a moment in his company is never dull; there’ll be heated arguments and an exchange of insults before long. And a family board game from his stash he hoards in a cupboard as a guilty pleasure (Kurapika takes insults to a whole other level in Scrabble).

 “Why poor? If anything, I made him feel like he had an expectation to live up to when clearly I should’ve told him they were low from the start.”

Leorio chuckles, “Same old, Pika, not cutting anyone any slack.”

“I really hope you see that as a good thing.”

“I thought you weren’t concerned with what I thought about you?”

Kurapika stares at him awhile, thinking but unable to know exactly when that way of thinking for him changed. “...No, you’re right.”

“I am? Are you okay? You never admit that I’m right.”

“You usually aren’t.”

“Okay, I’m going back inside now.”

Kurapika chuckles lightly to himself at the usual display of Leorio being riled up. He watches him stand up from the curb at full height in his suit. Months ago, he would’ve never imagined they’d be sitting out on the curb together and talking civil. Months ago, he never thought he’d care to even think about this man and go so far as to throw an impromptu birthday party. Have things changed just for him or…?

“Hey,"

Leorio stops, looks back over his shoulder, “What’s up?”

"Do you remember when we met?”

Leorio thinks it over some. He scratches his titled head, “...Wasn’t I...drunk? I can’t remember the details.”

“To be exact, I returned late and found you loitering on my front porch and complaining about not being able to get in to my house which you mistook for your own. I tried to maneuver around you and go in but you followed me inside and demanded that I get out. I tried to explain that it wasn’t your house but you were already passed out on the couch. So I fetched you a blanket, left water and headache pills on the coffee table, and went to bed. Then you were gone when I woke up.”

Leorio squints at the sky, thinking hard, “...like I said, I can’t remember the details. Why?”

"It’s just nice to know we’ve become civilized with one another.”

“You mean  _you’ve_   _dialed it back_  a couple notches and only act like a nagging wife half of the time."

“I only nag because you don't listen!”

“I’ll listen when you say something  _nice_.”

“I always say nice things!”

“Oh really?”

“Yes!” Leorio watches him, waiting for it. Kurapika hates how he seems so transparent to his neighbor now, adding, “...But I can understand the skepticism when an opportunity to praise you is scarce to arise!”

Leorio snaps his fingers, “ _There it is_. Were you the Regina George of your school?”

“Who?”

“You  _so were_.”

Kurapika sighs and gets up, dusting himself off angrily. “Whatever, I’m going inside. Goodnight, Leorio!”

"Hey, did you at least get a chance to have dessert?”

“What?”

“You had dinner with that guy but did you have dessert?”

"...No,I'm not really one for sweet dishes."

"Well  _I am_." Leorio's got a humble grin on his face, like he's planning something big and he has a long way to go before he finishes, but the planning stages of it are exciting enough that he can't wait to see it through. He swings a set of keys in to his hand and points a thumb back to his car, “Come get...Pancakes. Yeah, with me. Right now. That's what I want for my past-birthday."

“Just when I’m about to go to bed?”

“It's only ten! Jeez, anyone would think you were an old man inside that body. Haven't you ever had night cravings?!”

Kurapika knows better than to admit to waking up at very early hours to clean and handle unfinished tasks. He specifically recalls the one night he couldn't sleep and left the warmth and comfort of his bed to do nothing more than fix the crooked angle of a magazine pile. If he breathes a word, Leorio will never let him hear the end of it. “Not really. Why on earth are you craving pancakes of all all things? It's more of a breakfast meal than what one eats after dinner anyway."

"Okay, so the timing's off but don't you remember?!"

Kurapika stops and thinks about it, then it comes. The two of them, together. The two of them, enjoying each other's company and pancakes. The two of them, laughing together. The memory comes back and Kurapika's heart is invaded by the warmest feeling. Nostalgia. Calmness. A bit of happiness, too. "Weren't you too drunk to remember the details?"

"Of the  _night before_ , not the morning after."

"...Is this really what you wish to spend your birthday wish on? Pancakes with me? That's what you want?"

Leorio nods. "That's what I want."

Kurapika can't see himself denying either of them such a treat. He points a thumb to Leorio's car and shows a tired but sincere smile, "...I'm all yours, then."

 

. . .

 

**1.1 - Nice x To x Meet x You**

Kurapika's reluctant to answer his knocking door with a headache and the inability to open eyes properly through the blaring sun. The chirping birds sounds much louder as he walks downstairs. He isn't hungover—never drinks, this one—but he may as well be from how exhausted he is.

It's all his neighbor's fault. But Kurapika sadistically shoulders partial blame for getting involved. If he hadn't done an uncharacteristic thing and gone out of his way to help his drunken neighbor settle for the night, then he wouldn't have lost sleep and be as tired as he is now. He was halfway through blaming the next door neighbor's shenanigans keeping him out later than he wanted when his door knocked and said neighbor—tall and clad in a suit with tiny glasses—stood on the other side, holding a plate. He mumbles a quick 'hey, this is for you' and hands over the plate.

Kurapika stares at the plate in his hands of freshly fried pancakes. Soft and fluffy. Buttery. Syrup sliding off in an appetizing glaze. He's not about to attempt to convince himself the stack doesn't look delicious, _it does_. But it's too much sugar too early. "...You shouldn't have."

"No problem. They were the first thing I ate when I first moved in and they're still the best pancakes I've ever tasted. So I thought that I'd bring you some."

"That's..." Kurapika's  stomach growls for more than a teasing vision of the stack. "...Very  _thoughtful_  of you."

"I just wanted to say thanks and sorry about last night. You looked like the kinda guy who’d leave me when I’m trouble but I’m glad I was wrong.”

“The thought occurred, but if I did that then who’d bring me pancakes like a housewife?”

The neighbor clicks his tongue, "Pesky brat.” and extends out a hand from his pants' pocket. "I’m Leorio,  _since you asked_.”

Kurapika knows that tone is for him to shake off his impropriety, so he shakes the hand. “Kurapika.”

Leorio grins toothily, "Nice to meet you, neighbor."

**Author's Note:**

> I could've written more but writing this much when I'm still not fully back in the zone is an accomplishment in itself! Maybe someday I'll include a sequel that'll pick up on where leopika have left off. 
> 
> —The Halloween segment was my favourite part to write, that's why it's the longest.
> 
> —I’ve seen _The Artist _and it wasn’t even that bad but I can image Leorio, Killua and Gon not caring for it if Kurapika ever put it on.__
> 
> —I'm a fan of YuGiOh. Not a good Duelist but I still love to play! And I’m proud to say I didn’t need to google references to it for this story _(jeez, of all the things to be proud of, it's that?!)_
> 
> Thanks so much for reading!~❤


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